Generally speaking, when a printer experiences a problem, the source and severity of the problem can be difficult to identify. While an error message may be sent to a user, the error message may lack sufficient detail, there can be multiple reasons for the problem, the source of the problem cannot be identified or is misidentified, and/or the error message may not correspond to the root source of the problem. The user may have to open the printer and spend time and energy trying to identify the source of the problem. Opening the printer may not even be possible in some installations where the printer is locked closed to prevent tampering and/or where the user is remote. The problem can be an error or a near error. A near error is a problem that requires attention so that it does not develop into an error.
A printer may also provide an alert to the user about the near-error therein. For example, the printer may have a thermal print head that needs cleaning, a ribbon roll and/or media roll nearing depletion, etc. Unfortunately, the source of the near-error may not be easily identified by the user and/or the source of the error may be misidentified.
As a result, the user may experience frustration and stress in identifying the source of the problem and/or a near-error alert may be missed, causing frustration and stress as well as possibly increasing printer downtime.
Therefore, a need exists for printers and methods for correctly identifying a source of a problem therein.